Substantial portions of the United States and other areas of the world are commonly known as "swamplands" or "wetlands" and have land that is very moist or covered by standing water at least during rainy periods.
Many such areas support timber growth extremely well, and timber often grows in such areas at a substantially faster rate than in other areas. Indeed, most such areas in the United States have previously been logged, sometimes multiple times.
The earliest logging in such areas typically was float logging, in which trees were girdled to die and dry while standing and then felled and floated out. However, modern logging is quite difficult, if not entirely impractical, utilizing conventional logging methods during periods that such swamplands are wet.
Conventional logging methods for harvesting timber in such areas, when wet, include the use of helicopters to remove saw timber, the use of cable-pulled sleds to remove timber, the use of a yarder system, in which cables attached to timber or a sled pass over a tall tower, and the use of lifting balloons to assist in removing the timber. See e.g., Willingham, Phil, "Wetland Harvesting Systems for the Mobile Delta," Southern Regional Council on Forest Engineering Meeting, Auburn University, Alabama May 3-4, 1989.
Because of the problems associated with such methods, generally timber has been harvested in swamplands only during dry periods when conventional timber harvesting equipment can be driven across the land. Because such dry periods increase the quantity of accessible timber in a particular location or region, timber prices in such regions tend to be decreased. Accordingly, if it is possible economically to harvest timber from swamplands during wet periods, doing so is particularly profitable because timber prices during such periods tend to be higher.
It is thus an object of the present invention to provide apparatus and methods for harvesting swampland timber during wet periods on an economical basis.
It further object of the present invention to provide apparatus methods for harvesting swampland timbers that do not permanently damage swamplands by unduly dislocating or compacting soils, or by requiring the construction of bridges, elevated roadways, drainage ditches or the like.
It further object of the present invention to provide methods apparatus for harvesting swampland timber that can easily and economically traverse ponds, creeks, rivers and other relatively deep bodies of water of the type that frequently are present in such regions.
It is an additional object of the present invention to provide methods and apparatus for harvesting swampland timber that make possible the maintenance and re-supply of apparatus utilized in such activities.
These and objects and benefits of the present invention will be further appreciated by reference to the following brief description of the invention, the appended drawings, the detailed description of those drawings, and the claims.